Cost Optimization
VectorFlow includes a cost analytics dashboard that helps you understand, attribute, and optimize the cost of your observability pipelines. Cost is modeled as a function of data volume (bytes processed) and a configurable per-GB rate.
Cost dashboard overview
The cost dashboard is available from the environment sidebar under Analytics > Costs. It provides:
- Summary cards -- Total ingested bytes, egressed bytes, and estimated cost for the selected time range, with a comparison to the previous equivalent period showing the percentage change.
- Per-pipeline breakdown -- A table showing each pipeline's bytes in, bytes out, data reduction percentage, and attributed cost. This helps identify which pipelines are the most expensive.
- Per-team breakdown -- Aggregated cost by team, useful for chargeback and cost allocation.
- Per-environment breakdown -- Cost comparison across environments, each with its own per-GB rate.
- Time series chart -- A line chart showing cost trends over time.
You can select a time range of 1 hour, 6 hours, 1 day, 7 days, or 30 days to adjust the reporting window.
Cost-per-GB configuration
Each environment has a Cost per GB setting (in cents) that determines how data volume is converted to a dollar cost. This is configured in Settings > Environments.
The default value is 0 (cost tracking disabled). Set it to your actual per-GB cost to enable cost attribution. For example, if your observability platform charges $2.50 per GB ingested, set the value to 250 (cents).
The cost-per-GB rate is applied uniformly to all pipelines in the environment. If different pipelines route to destinations with different pricing, consider using separate environments.
AI cost recommendations
When AI is enabled for your team, VectorFlow can analyze your pipeline configurations and metrics to generate cost optimization recommendations. Recommendations are generated by a background analysis job and appear in the Recommendations tab of the cost dashboard.
Each recommendation includes:
- Title -- A short description of the suggested optimization
- Impact -- The estimated cost savings if the recommendation is applied
- Details -- An explanation of what to change and why
- Pipeline -- Which pipeline the recommendation applies to
Managing recommendations
Recommendations have three statuses:
- Pending -- New recommendations awaiting review
- Applied -- Recommendations you have acted on
- Dismissed -- Recommendations you have reviewed and decided not to pursue
From the recommendations list, you can:
- View details -- Click a recommendation to see the full explanation and the affected pipeline's current configuration
- Mark as applied -- After implementing the suggestion, mark it as applied to track your optimizations
- Dismiss -- If a recommendation is not applicable, dismiss it to remove it from the pending list
Dismissing or applying a recommendation requires the Editor role or above.
Triggering a fresh analysis
Admins can trigger a manual cost analysis run from the recommendations page. This re-evaluates all pipelines in the environment and may generate new recommendations based on current metrics.
Cost export API
The cost data can be exported via the REST API for integration with external billing or reporting systems. Send a GET request to:
GET /api/v1/analytics/costs/export?environmentId=<id>&range=<range>Parameters:
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
environmentId | Yes | The environment to export costs for |
range | No | Time range: 1h, 6h, 1d, 7d, or 30d (default: 30d) |
The response is a CSV file with per-pipeline cost data. Authentication requires a service account API key with the read permission.